We don’t want to be supercritical about all this talk of new coal-fired power stations, but everyone is pitching in to point out how rubbish new coal would be - even respected parliamentary bodies.
The Environmental Audit Committee are a good bunch, who often dedicate their time to pointing out the many holes in the Government’s badly-thought out environment policies. Today, they published a pretty damning report on Carbon Capture and Storage, confirming that it’s unlikely “CCS would be widely deployable before 2020″, and that therefore:
“… the possibility of CCS should not be used as a fig leaf to give unabated coal-fired power stations an appearance of environmental acceptability”
[ie: Kingsnorth should not be given the go-ahead].
Hear hear, say we.
The old boys (and girls) go on to say:
“Coal should be seen as the last resort, even with the promise of CCS.”
This great little film from the Ecologist takes a look at environmental protest in the UK and some of the underhand tactics businesses, PR firms, the Government and the police use to respond to it. Bonus points for using footage from recent protests at Ffos-y-Fran opencast mine in Merthyr. Look out for the polar bears!
You wait all week for a protest about the insanity of new coal-fired power stations and then two come along at once. Actually, we barely have to wait at all these days, what with the growing wave of opposition to Government and big business support for new coal, people are getting out and taking a stand against surefire climate disaster.
The Guardian had taken the ’slightly unusual’ decision to have it’s climate change conference sponsored by e.on - let no man say that journalists don’t have a highly developed sense of humour. Protected by toxic waste hazard suits and brandishing a top-of-the-line range of greenwash detecting devices, 40 intrepid Greenwash Guerrillas swarmed around the building, making sure that every delegate who entered knew about e.on’s attempt to build the first new coal fired power station in the UK for thirty years at Kingsnorth, in Kent.
Kingsnorth is going to be the site for the climate camp, which we may have mentioned before. Events like this are building momentum, excitement and interest, so why not head down in a couple of weeks and check it out?
If the climate were a school playground, we’d all have issues with power companies, mining companies and the Government - the obvious climate bullys, short on brains and big on breaking things. (Like the delicate balance of the earth’s climate, for instance.) But every now and again it pays to examine the conduct of the spectacle-wearing nerds of the climate playground who, in exchange for the protection (and cash) of the climate bullies, try and put a respectable veneer on their money-grabbing activities.
People like PR company Edelman, who would like you to believe that e.on are the new ecologically-minded saviours of the planet. So today, the nerds get their comeuppance, as the gang at Oxford Climate Action have been scampering around in and on top of their offices.
Edelman are the eeeeee-nor-mous public relations company that’s been busy cranking out green spin for e.on about the proposed new power station at Kingsnorth. Annoyed at this, several protestors gained access to the firm’s offices, while others outside climbed onto the roof to unfurl a banner reading “Edelman: Spinning The Climate Out Of Control.” Local MP John McDonnell also dropped by to lend support.
Debbie, who was at the protest, cut through the greenwash with this pithy statement:
“Coal is the dirtiest form of fossil fuel. Edelman are telling E-On to say that Carbon Capture and Storage can help. But CCS is an unproven technology and 20 years away at the earliest. We’re here to reclaim the PR machine for normal people who want to see real action on climate change not another dose of corporate greenwash”.
Edelman have a long record of working with dubious companies to brighten up their image, and e.on are only the latest. Go Oxford! we say, as the action continues to build the momentum for Climate Camp next month.
An enormous wodge of coal links for you, on a Wednesday for a change…
Nature: Losing Greenland - Everything’s rosie… don’t worry the Government are consulting on renewables, it’s fine… it’s under control… sit back, relax…
A summer of global climate protest: First of five global Climate Camps starts in Australia
Coal train and world’s largest coal port peacefully blockaded
London, 14 July 2008
For Immediate Release
As the G8 leaders fail to achieve any meaningful agreement on tackling
climate change, thousands of activists from Britain to Australia are
spearheading a radical approach to the issue. Inspired by previous Camps
for Climate Action at Drax and Heathrow, six “Climate Camps” are taking
place across the world throughout July and August in what is dubbed “the
Convergence for Climate Action”.
In the last few days the first camp was established at Newcastle,
Australia. Yesterday, people from the camp chained themselves to a
coal train, blocking access to Carrington coal terminal for most of the
day and costing the company an estimated 1.2 million US dollars.
Today, more climate camp activists are blocking work at the world’s
largest coal port at Kooragang.
The events in Australia will be followed by camps in Germany, the UK
and three across North America into late August. Each camp has the same
messages of education on climate change and direct action against some of
the major polluters and other climate criminals. Coal is a strong theme,
featuring as the principle target in a number of countries.
“We are running out of time,” said Lizbeth Halloran from Australia, where
hundreds of people have already gathered. “The G8 are making pitiful
noises and insulting our intelligence with their so-called targets. With
world leaders so clearly the puppets of the corporate profit motive, it is
ordinary people who have to put the brakes on climate change when nobody
else will.”
The camps share the same four key objectives: show sustainable
alternatives in action, share skills and knowledge, build a grassroots
movement against the root causes of climate change, and take direct
action, which is seen as a proportionate and necessary response to the
scale of the problem. There is also a recognition that there needs to be a
‘just transition’ to bring about an environmentally and socially
responsible society.
“Two years ago we started off as six hundred people in a field in
Yorkshire, but it sparked something massive worldwide,” stated Connor
O’Brien, a spokesperson from the UK’s Camp for Climate Action. “Now we
know that whatever we achieve in our local struggles this summer, they are
amplified by the achievements of the five other climate camps around the
world, the many more planned for next summer, and the year-round global
social movement that is both resisting runaway climate change caused by
the pursuit of economic growth at all costs, and building pathways to a
sustainable future.”
The camps bring together diverse elements of the anti-globalisation,
social justice and environmental movements, united by the recognition that
governments and corporations are part of the problem and therefore cannot
be part of the solution. As well as taking direct action against some of
the root causes, they seek to promote sustainable solutions to the
challenge of climate change.
